Verde Valley school boards to take position on possible consolidation

Mingus Union School Board President Anita Glazar said, “This lawsuit seeks to prevent an unlawful school consolidation question from appearing on the November 6, 2018 ballot. After months of careful study and review, our board voted unanimously to reject the proposed consolidation at issue in this lawsuit because it is not in the best interests of our students and would waste taxpayer money.” VVN/Bill Helm

COTTONWOOD – Late Wednesday afternoon, Yavapai County School Superintendent Tim Carter emailed a draft copy of a consolidation information pamphlet to the four school districts that would be affected by the consolidation of the Mingus Union and the Cottonwood-Oak Creek school districts.

In the next 24 hours, the governing boards of the four districts will meet to discuss the information and assemble any on-the-record statements they would need to provide to Carter’s office by 5 p.m. Aug. 3.

Carter said last week that the schools’ boards would “need to actually pass resolutions to suggest specific changes or concerns by a majority vote if they wish to have them considered.”

Valley Academy of Career and Technology Education and Clarkdale-Jerome are the two other districts which would be directly affected by a Mingus Union and Cottonwood-Oak Creek consolidation.

Mingus Union School Board meets at 2 p.m. Aug. 2

At 2 p.m. Thursday, the Mingus Union School Board will meet at the high school library. Mingus Union High School is located at 1801 E. Fir St. in Cottonwood.

The agenda can be found at https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicHome.aspx?ak=1000989.

Unless otherwise noted, the Mingus Union School Board’s regularly-scheduled meetings are held at 6 p.m. the second Thursday of each month.

Valley Academy School Board meets at 4 p.m. Thursday

At 4 p.m. Thursday, Valley Academy district governing board will meet at the career and technology center’s offices, located at 3405 E. SR 89A, unit B in Cottonwood.

A copy of the agenda is available at the Valley Academy website, located at http://www.vacte.com/agendas-1.html.

Unless otherwise noted, the Valley Academy board’s regularly-scheduled meetings are held at 4 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month.

Clarkdale-Jerome School Board meets at 4:30 p.m. Thursday

At 4:30 p.m. Thursday, the Clarkdale-Jerome School Board will meet at the district’s office, located at 1615 Main St. in Clarkdale. A copy of the agenda can be found on the district’s website, http://www.cjsd.k12.az.us/district-agendas-and-minutes.

Unless otherwise noted, the Clarkdale-Jerome School Board’s regularly-scheduled meetings are held at 6 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month.

Cottonwood-Oak Creek School Board meets at 9:30 a.m. Friday

At 9:30 a.m. Friday, the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School Board will meet at the district’s office, located at 1 N. Willard St. in Cottonwood.

A copy of the agenda can be found on the district’s website, www.boarddocs.com/az/cocsd/Board.nsf/vpublic?open.

Unless otherwise noted, the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School Board’s regularly-scheduled meetings are held at 5:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month.

Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools 2018

Superintendent Carter also provided a copy of the information pamphlet to the Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools 2018, a political action committee led by former Mingus Union School Board member Andy Groseta.

Carter said that his office will “take any input” that the boards and/or the committee each collectively agrees to.

That input, Carter said, can be “additions, deletions, corrections, suggesting different language, questioning numbers, the order of items within the pamphlet, maps, tables, process, procedures, assumptions that were made, etc.”

“In other words, nothing is off the table, as long as it is pertinent to the pamphlet,” carter said. “Questions will also be reviewed and responded to if appropriate.”

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